Before Chekov and Jessi
by JuliaBear7
Summary: Stories of Chekov and Jessi when they were younger.


An eight-year-old Jessi Hutchins wandered clumsily through the hallway. It was full of busy students, from ages six, to eleven, all trying to find their classes. She was entering the third grade. This is going to be super fun, I bet! She thought eagerly. She wore a shirt that had a golden image of a starfleet symbol, it was a little bit big on her, but she hardly noticed. Then, two ten-year-old boys stopped her in the hallway.

"What are you doing?" They asked, standing side-by-side so Jessi couldn't get through.

"I am going to class." Jessi said. "Where else would I go?"

"What's that?" The thinner looking by asked, pointing to her shirt.

"It's a shirt." Jessi said.

"I mean, what's on the shirt, stupid!"

"I am not stupid. You pointed to my shirt, therefore, I answered your question, stating that it was, in fact a shirt." Jessi said. All of this sounded strange coming from such a small girl.

"What is on the shirt?" The larger boy repeated.

"It is the symbol of Starfleet."

"Why do you wear a Starfleet shirt?" The skinny boy asked her.

"Because, when I'm older, I am going to be a doctor on the biggest, nicest ship in the galaxy, and I'm going to save people from alien diseases, and rescue people from enemies, and stuff like that." She said smiling at the thought of it.

The two boys laughed. "You're too small and weak to be in Starfleet. Starfleet needs big, tough people who can fight, and beat up aliens."

"I won't be small when I'm sixteen and I can enlist!" Jessi protested. "And Starfleet is peaceful, we want to make friends with aliens, not hurt them!"

The two boys pushed Jessi aside, and she fell, as they walked past her. "That wasn't very nice." She said, to no one in particular. She picked up her things and went on her way, still as eager about third grade as she was before.

"Alright, me new third grade class!" the teacher said, in his happy first-day-of-school voice. "Today, we are going to find out a little more about each and every one of you. I'm going to call on you, and you are going to tell me your name, where you were born, your birthday, your hero and what you want to be when you grow up! Okay?"

"Okay!" The class chimed.

He got to everyone in the class, then he called on Jessi.

"Hello everyone," Jessi said in her unusually soft tone. "My name is Jessi Hutchins, Jessi with an "i", I was born in Burlington, New Jersey, on June 15, I want to be a doctor on a starship when I grow up, and my hero is George Kirk, captain of the U.S.S Kelvin."

The teacher was surprised. He looked hard at Jessi. "You know the story of the U.S.S Kelvin?"

Jessi nodded. "All future Starfleet officers should."

The teacher smiled a little. "Jessi, why don't you stay with me during recess. Would that be okay?"

Jessi nodded.

The bell rang for recess, and the suddenly turbulent group of children ran out the door. Jessi sat behind in her desk. Her teacher stepped toward her, and sat in the desk in front of her, turning around to talk to her. "Jessi, do you know why I wanted you to stay behind?"

Jessi looked up from her notebook. "No, sir, I was just hoping I wasn't in trouble."

The teacher laughed. "No, you're not in trouble. And you can call me Mr. Miller. I just wanted to know, who taught you about the U.S.S Kelvin?"

"I learned it from my brother." Jessi said.

"Do you like your brother?" Mr. Miller said.

"Yes, I love my brother." Jessi said. "He's really cool and popular in his school."

"How old is he?"

"He's 15. Sometimes I feel like he forgets about me though. 'Cause he's always home late, and he always hugs me, but I wish he'd come home earlier."

"Why did he tell you about the Kelvin?"

Jessi looked at her notebook. "Because I asked him to teach me about Starfleet suff. He knows a lot. He says he wants to be a 'history major,' which means he's gonna be really good at history classes."

"Can you explain to me what happened?"

"To the Kelvin?"

"Yes. The ship was under attack from a Romulan vessel, and Acting Captain George Kirk held the Romulan ship back, so that the shuttles holding more than 800 of his crew, including his wife and unborn child, to safety, and a few seconds before the Kelvin was destroyed, he found out that his son had been born, and he named him James Tiberius Kirk."

"Is that why Captain Kirk is your role model?" Mr. Miller asked. "Because he gave his life for his crew."

"His family. A starship crew is like a family."

"That is very true. You know, I have a brother who was on the Kelvin."

"Was he okay?"

"Yes, he was very lucky. He was friends with George Kirk. Still knows his son. Did you say you wanted to be a doctor?"

"Yeah. I wanna help people."

"That's very good." Mr. Miller smiled. "You can go to recess now, Jessi."

Jessi smiled and walked out with her notebook. She really didn't like recess. The kids at her school didn't really understand her. She sat on a bench and started sketching a starship. The pages were full of drawings, cartoons, diagrams, of anything related to Starfleet. All of a sudden, she heard someone behind her.

"Hi!" A girl voice chimed.

"Huh?" Jessi jumped. She didn't know someone had been behind her.

"I'm Elizabeth!" The girl said. "But you can call me Liza!"

"Um… Hello Liza." Jessi said. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Just a little while." Liza said, sitting down next to Jessi. "What'ca doin'?"

"Just drawing some stuff." Jessi didn't know if the girl was trying to be friendly to her, or just trying to annoy her.

"Drawin' what?"

"Starships."

"Really? Can I see?" Liza said, her blue eyes filled with excitement.

"Um… Yeah, sure." Jessi handed her the notebook. Liza flipped through all the pages of the book. "Wow, you really know a lot about starships! What's this one?"

Jessi explained every starship in her book, and Liza actually listened. Usually when Jessi talked, people covered their ears, or turned away, or said something rude. This is what having a friend feels like. Jessi thought.

After that, there was still a few minutes left of recess, so they just talked.

"Do you ever think about boys?" Liza said, upside down on the bench.

"Not really." Jessi said. "Boys are mean."

"Then what about the girls?"

"They're mean too."

"I'm not mean."

"Well, you're different."

"If you don't like anybody, who ya gonna marry when ya grow up?"

"I don't know."

"Isn't it so weird that your boyfriend in the future is alive right now? Maybe even thinkin' the same thing about his future girlfriend."

Jessi thought about that. Maybe he is.

He was.

Pavel Chekov lived in St. Petersburg, Russia, and a few years after Jessi entered third grade, he was going into the fourth grade. He shuffled awkwardly through the hall, politely excusing himself for bumping into everyone. He walked onto the playground, at last, away from the dangerous hallway.

Despite almost getting stomped on in the hallway, Pavel was usually always happy. He sat on one of the old-fashioned swing-sets and thought about how life would be on a starship. He would be a part of a starship crew someday. I'll be friends with the captain, and the first-officer, and everyone, and I'll be really helpful, too. He was so busy daydreaming, he didn't see the group of boys standing in front of the swings.

"Hey, curly!" One of them said, in Russian.

"Huh? Oh. Hello." Pavel said smiling.

"What are you doing?" Another boy said.

"Just thinking. About Starfleet." Pavel said. "I'm going to be on a starship one day."

The boys laughed.

Pavel was confused. "I don't undesrtand. What is the joke?"

"You are the joke, Pavel." One of the boys said to him. "You could never be in Starfleet." You know why? Because to be in Starfleet, you have to be tough."

Pavel hopped off the swing and puffed up his chest. "I can be tough, see? And strong!" He giggled.

"Oh really?" The tallest of the boys said.

"Yes." Pavel said, putting his hands on his hips, with his chest still puffed out.

"Then what are you gonna do about this." The tall boy said taking one of Pavel's long golden curls and pulling it.

"Ouch! Stop it!" Pavel shouted. The boy laughed and continued to pull his hair.

"See? You aren't tough or strong. Or else you would have hit me back."

"Starfleet officers are not violent people!" Pavel shouted at him. "They are diplomats!"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"They only result to violence when we absolutely have to." Pavel said.

"So, what if I did this?" The boy shovel Pavel to the ground.

"Then I would shoot you with a phaser! But I don't exactly have one with me at this moment." Pavel said. The boy picked him up by his shirt collar. "Hey, put me down! I never did anything to you before!"

The boy just laughed at him. "You are so stupid! You cannot even defend yourself. Weakling!" He said, nearly choking Pavel with his own shirt collar. He put him on the ground, and tears stung Pavel's eyes. "Defend yourself!" He yelled at him. "You are too afraid to defend yourself! You would be dead if you were in Starfleet! You would die!"

Pavel tackled him, then punched the boy in the face. The boy fought against him and started yelling to his friends to get a teacher. Pavel kept hitting him until a teacher pried the to boys apart.

Pavel was sent home from school early that day. He sat in his room. He didn't even bother seeing if the other kid had injured him. He had multiple scratches on his face, and blood dripped from his top lip and around his eye. They called me a weakling, told me to defend myself, then acted like I was some monster when I did defend myself. Well, I'll prove them wrong. I'll be on the biggest, best, most amazing starship when I grow up, and they'll be sorry.

Night came, and before Pavel went to bed, he said a prayer. Please, God, help me become a Starfleet officer. I want those kids to be wrong. I'm sorry for hitting the one kid, but he was really mean. Please, just make me a really cool Starfleet officer with a best friend, and maybe a nice girlfriend. I can wait for it, but if I wait, it has to happen, okay? Thank you very much.


End file.
